Nintendo Rejects Accusations that Wii U Copied the iPad

Ideas for Wii U began in 2008.

The Wii U launched in 2012. That's two years after the initial launch of the iPad. Naturally, this has led some to believe that Nintendo copied Apple's innovative device in creating its latest game console. Of course, Nintendo's president Satoru Iwata has rejected any such accusations.

"We began talking about having another screen being a good idea around 2008," Iwata said in an interview with Japanese newspaper Nikkei Shimbun. "We thought thoroughly about our other options, but in the end, this was the idea which was the most logical for us.

"So, in 2009, just as we began to press forward with this idea, sure that we were on the right track, this thing called an 'Ipad' came into the world. 2.5 years after the debut of the Ipad, when we were announcing the Wii U, it was the start of the tablet boom, the reaction was, 'Nintendo's just added a tablet to a game console, and there'll be no revolution this time.'

"Even though we'd been working on dual screens prior to the release of tablets, it looked like we were just following a trend," he added.

If anything, it simply seems that Nintendo decided on a console version of its wildly popular DS handheld, rather than outright copied the iPad. What do you think? Let us know in the comments box below.